Radio Atlantic, IA – AM 1220

Residents hold vigil to recall missing Iowa girls

December 6th, 2012 by Ric Hanson

EVANSDALE, Iowa (AP) — Dozens of people gathered for a candlelight vigil for two Iowa cousins who disappeared in July, just hours after investigators announced that hunters had found two bodies in a wooded area. The vigil was held Wednesday night at a lake in Evansdale where investigators had found the bicycles belonging to 9-year-old Elizabeth Collins and 11-year-old Lyric Cook.

Some of the roughly 70 people attending the prayer vigil were holding out hope that the bodies weren’t those of the cousins. Others seemed resigned to the tragic news. Barb Collins, of nearby Waterloo, says the community is grieving. Black Hawk County sheriff’s Capt. Rick Abben says the girls’ families were told about the two bodies and are asking for privacy. The bodies will be identified by the state medical examiner’s office.